We're bringing more women to the peace table.

In the last sixty years, Asia-Pacific has experienced more conflicts than any other region in the world.

Over 130 million of Asia’s citizens live in conflict-impacted areas today. Women tend to suffer disproportionately in these circumstance, often marginalised into passive, care-based, private sectors of society. Moreover, despite their presence at the forefront of peace-building efforts, women tend to be perceived as 'victims', and their contributions to peace are greatly undervalued. From 1992 to 2011, only 9% of negotiators at peace talks were women, making up only 4% of peace signatories. Despite the challenges they face, the perception of women must be transformed from passive recipients of aid to active drivers of change. Their deep insights into sources of conflict and the roles they play in maintaining social cohesion must be utilised fully to ensure more inclusive peace-building efforts. In 2000, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) was developed to help promote gender equality, and advance peace and development. UNSCR 1325 was the first formal and legal document by the Security Council requiring parties in conflict to prevent the violation of women's rights, to protect women and girls against sexual and gender-based violence, and to include women in peace negotiations and/or post-conflict reconstruction.

To help realise the goals of UNSCR 1325, a workforce was established in 2010 to focus on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) in vulnerable countries by supporting women's voices and promoting their participation and representation in peace processes.

N-Peace, or 'Engage for Equality, Access, Community and Empowerment' is a UNDP flagship initiative founded in 2010 to commemorate a decade of UNSCR 1325 implementation via the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Through its yearly N-Peace Awards, the initiative aims to recognise the powerful stories of peace-builders and activists in the region who embody the WPS agenda. Former N-Peace awardees have gone on to report increased access to the decision-making arena and other partnerships.

winners' quotes

During a conflict women were working hard but are rarely recognized once there is peace.

Radha Paudel

If you really want to be effective woman at a negotiating table, you need to have more knowledge of the issues than anyone in the room.

Mossarat Qadeem

The common (mis)conception is that peace negotiations are about ending war. So, who is going to sit at the negotiation table? The war actors. Women are not typically actors of war; therefore they do not sit around that table.

Irene Santiago

: As a young single Pakistani women, my peace-building work with India is often reduced to personal emotions. I am often asked ‘peace-loving’ woman, do you have a ‘lover’ in India?

Aliya Harir

We have to take risks to succeed. In a country like Afghanistan women are always taking risks.

Habiba Sarabi

To achieve peace in my country, we need to implement political and social change from the ground upwards and enforce the rule of law fairly for everybody. Women have to be involved in this transformation at every stage.

Cheery Zahau

I strongly believe that when women participate in civil society and politics, governments are more open, democratic and responsive to citizens. When women are at the negotiating table, peace agreements are more inclusive and durable.

Srijana Karki

I want to encourage women to stand up for their rights and to achieve their dreams. I want to provide a space where women leaders can show other women that they too can be drivers of social change in their own communities.

Sharif Shah Safi

We have to understand how powerful women are in every segment of life, and we have a duty to ensure they believe in themselves. Even though women in Poso, Indonesia have experienced numerous forms of violence and poverty, my dream is to see them be independent, and voice out their political rights in parliament.

Gunawan

previous winners

Research

See our recent publication from Indonesia on the role women play in ending hostilities and sustaining peace, "Hidden Pearls".

"In every conflict, women play an important role in ending hostilities and forging reconciliation. In Indonesia, women contribute significantly in conflict prevention and peace-building, especially in the post-conflict regions of Maluku, North Maluku, Central Sulawesi, NTT and Aceh. Unfortunately, their stories have not been well documented and little is known by the public.

UNDP project Peace Through Development in Disadvantaged Areas (PTDDA) activities since 2012, with the support of N-Peace, have produced many success stories and lessons learned that can be used and disseminated so that they may inspire women all over Indonesia to contribute to peace building.